Scheme for Integrated Development for Horticulture (HRT-2)

What is the Scheme for Integrated Development for Horticulture (HRT-2)?

Scheme for Integrated Development for Horticulture, listed on Gujarat's i-Khedut portal under the code HRT-2, is the umbrella under which the Directorate of Horticulture of the Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department delivers most of its farmer-facing subsidies. HRT-2 is not a single benefit with a single amount. It is a family of components, each with its own unit cost, subsidy percentage and ceiling, opened on the portal financial year by financial year.

For the 2025-26 cycle Gujarat opened 68 horticulture components on i-Khedut, covering the full arc of a horticulture enterprise: planting material for fruit crops, spices and flowers; protected cultivation such as shade nets and polyhouses; mechanisation and hand tools; and post-harvest management including sorting, grading and packing infrastructure.

Two published examples show how the rates work. Under the tools, equipment, sorting/grading and post-harvest management component, a general category farmer receives up to 75 per cent of the cost or Rs 3,750, whichever is less, for items such as plastic crates, weighing equipment and packing material. A farmer group or cooperative society setting up post-harvest management equipment receives 90 per cent of the cost or up to Rs 7,50,000, whichever is less. The gap between those two figures is the design of the scheme in a nutshell: individual assistance stays small and broad, while collective infrastructure gets serious money.

Who runs it and where

• Policy, component list and rates: Directorate of Horticulture, doh.gujarat.gov.in.
• Applications and status: i-Khedut portal, ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in, the state's single window that since the 2.0 rollout carries schemes of six departments including Horticulture, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries.
• Verification and payment: taluka and district horticulture offices.

Who is eligible for HRT-2 assistance?

A farmer can be considered if:

• The applicant is a farmer in Gujarat holding land recorded in the 7/12 and 8-A extracts in their own name.
• The applicant is registered on i-Khedut with an Aadhaar-linked profile and a bank account in the same name.
• The applicant is undertaking a horticulture activity covered by an open component: fruit crops, vegetables, spices, flowers, medicinal plants or associated post-harvest handling.
• The applicant has not already drawn assistance for the same item within the component's cooling-off period. Most equipment components carry a rule that the same item cannot be subsidised again for a set number of years.

Farmer groups, Farmer Producer Organisations, self-help groups and cooperative societies are eligible for the collective components, at the higher rates, and these are the only route to the Rs 7.5 lakh ceiling.

An applicant is not eligible if:

• There is no land record in the applicant's name. A landless labourer, or a cultivator farming a relative's land with no entry in the 7/12 extract, cannot apply for the land-linked individual components.
• The applicant is applying for a component that is closed for the current cycle. i-Khedut only accepts applications for components showing as open.
• The item was purchased before pre-approval. HRT-2 is a pre-approval scheme, and a bill dated before the approval order is normally rejected.
• The same asset has been subsidised under another scheme, state or central.
• Documents show a name mismatch between the land record, the Aadhaar card and the bank account.

Note that SC and ST farmers should check whether the Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) or Tribal Area Sub Plan (TASP) version of the horticulture programme carries a better rate for the same component before applying under the general HRT-2 line.

What documents are required?

How to apply for HRT-2 on i-Khedut

1. Open ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in and go to the Yojana (Schemes) section. Choose Horticulture schemes and find the HRT-2 component you want. Only components marked open will let you proceed.
2. Register or log in. New users register as a farmer using Aadhaar-based authentication; the portal pulls your land details against your Aadhaar and registration number.
3. Fill the application form with your land survey number, the area proposed for the activity, the item or component applied for, and your bank details.
4. Upload the supporting documents to 7/12 and 8-A extracts, Aadhaar, bank passbook, and the caste certificate if you are applying under SCSP or TASP.
5. Confirm and submit the application. An unconfirmed application is not considered, so complete the confirmation step rather than stopping at save.
6. Print the confirmed application and submit the signed printout with photocopies at your taluka or district horticulture office within the period stated on the printout.
7. Wait for the pre-approval order before buying anything. Purchase only from an approved supplier, keep the original GST bill, and file the subsidy claim with the bill and any required installation photographs.

How to check your i-Khedut application status

Use the application status option on ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in with your application number and registered mobile number or Aadhaar-linked login. The portal shows whether the application is submitted, confirmed, verified at the taluka office, pre-approved, or paid. If the status has not moved for several weeks after the closing date, take the printed application to the taluka horticulture office; most stalled files are waiting on a missing document rather than on a decision.

Why HRT-2 applications get rejected

• Application saved but not confirmed on the portal. This is the commonest error and it is entirely avoidable.
• Printout not submitted to the taluka office within the stated period.
• Purchase made before pre-approval, so the bill date fails the check.
• Bill from a supplier not on the approved list for that component.
• Land record stale or in a parent's name, without a mutation or consent letter.
• Bank account name mismatch or a dormant account, so the DBT transfer fails.
• Component target exhausted. Many HRT-2 components have physical targets and a draw of lots when applications exceed the target; an unsuccessful applicant is not rejected on merit and can apply again in the next cycle.

Key dates for the current cycle

Horticulture applications on i-Khedut for 2025-26 opened on 5 May 2025, and Gujarat ran the year's horticulture components in phases, with a phase II opening of 68 components later in the cycle. Individual components carry their own closing dates and some close early once the target is met. There is no single year-round window: check the component's own status on i-Khedut before planning a purchase. Buying first and applying later almost always ends in a rejected claim.

Where to get help

• i-Khedut portal: ikhedut.gujarat.gov.in — registration, application, status and the live list of open components.
• Directorate of Horticulture: doh.gujarat.gov.in, component descriptions, government resolutions, nursery lists and district office contacts.
• Taluka or District Horticulture Officer, the first point of contact for a pending application, a document query or a rejected claim.
• Village Level Entrepreneur or Common Service Centre, for assisted online filing where a farmer does not have internet access.

Applying on i-Khedut is free. A CSC may charge a small notified fee for assisted data entry, but no payment is required to obtain a sanction, and no agent has the power to move an application up a target-based draw.